Research universities should “consider merging” According to a report of a speech by Nigel Thrift, vice-chancellor of Warwick: The top 30 could merge, either with each other or with big American universities, and contemp…
Savings needed? No need to think about it, just cut the administration John Denham has written to HEFCE on the impact of the Budget. This is a significant letter from the Secretary of State but it doesn’t quite say what …
New Guardian 2010 UK University League Table The Guardian’s latest table is now available and the top 30 overall rankings are: 1 (1) Oxford 2 (2) Cambridge 3 (5) St Andrews 4 (4) Warwick 5 (3) London School of Economics …
According to the Chronicle: Social Media in Admissions: No Longer a Choice: College-admissions offices overwhelmingly consider social media important for recruiting students, and more institutions are creating blogs and …
New Independent League Table just published for 2010 First of the season is out (Guardian and Times to follow in May) and not a huge amount to write home about. Bath, Edinburgh, Aston and Southampton all have reasons for…
Government launches ‘Graduate Talent Pool’ which is intended to boost opportunities for graduates. A new dedicated website, which will match employers with suitable graduates will be launched over the summer, although in…
BBC report on a new think tank publication which proposes that weak universities ‘should shut’: Struggling universities should be allowed to close or be taken over by the private sector, says a think thank. Policy Exchan…
Not quite the dismal science that is economics but not far off it seems. From the obituary of Sir Neil MacCormick, Regius professor of law at Edinburgh: Not content with teaching, writing and research, he enjoyed and exc…
Not quite the dismal science that is economics but not far off it seems. From the obituary of Sir Neil MacCormick, Regius professor of law at Edinburgh: Not content with teaching, writing and research, he enjoyed and exc…
Guardian story: Take concern over degree standards seriously, universities warned Whilst MPs will always find ways to give VCs and universities a hard time, they can rarely be accused of getting too close to the serious …
From the BBC: Students should get work experience to boost their chances of getting jobs in the downturn, the head of the CBI says. Richard Lambert says students must get skills and first-hand experience of work while st…
Good piece by Nicholas Barr in the Guardian on the reasons the current loan system is better than the NUS-preferred Graduate Tax: The bottom line is that we have the best of both worlds. Graduates face what looks like a …
Following up an earlier post on this topic (with thanks to John Dale and the author for the prompt): Nice post in which Mark Harrison draws on substantial knowledge and experience to compare and contrast Stalin’s Soviet …
“Cambridge dons retain control of university” According to the Guardian, Cambridge has fended off pressure to change the composition of its Council to include a lay majority. The extent of the additional accountability r…
When do we want them? Er, as soon as possible really but it is recognised that there might be the tiny problem of electoral arithmetic to contend with, so bad luck everyone. The BBC has done a survey of a selection of VC…
The Guardian carries some news about a new course at Liverpool Hope: The long and winding road to an MA in Beatles songs. Just the kind of stuff to get the IUSS Select Committee going: The masters degree in The Beatles, …
RAE funding results out Following the results published in December 2008. Handy summaries of research funding outcomes are published by the Times Higher Education. Resources have been spread more thinly and there are som…
Times Higher Education: Accountability costs cut by £50 million. A Hefce-commissioned report from PA Consulting claims universities’ administrative burden has been reduced by £50m. As reported in THE: Between 2004 and 20…
Times Higher Education: Accountability costs cut by £50 million. A Hefce-commissioned report from PA Consulting claims universities’ administrative burden has been reduced by £50m. As reported in THE: Between 2004 and 20…
University of Nottingham league tables podcast Suspect this is probably going to be the full extent of cross-media influence though.